Values and Diversity of Organisational Work Ethicality: Lessons Learnt from Sri Lankan Entrepreneurs

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to examine values as a component of organisational work ethicality, uncovering the contextual realities of values and explore the diversity of work ethicality in the entrepreneurial context in Sri Lanka. Organisational work ethicality is explained through egoistic work ethicality, utilitarian work ethicality and deontological work ethicality. With a view to get a deeper understanding of the diversity of organisational work ethicality, a qualitative approach is adopted. Twelve entrepreneurs were selected for in-depth interviews. A thematic analysis was carried out for field notes with the support of NVivo 6 version. Findings of this study reveal that the entrepreneurial thinking and their interpretations derived different social meanings of organisational work ethicality. The final outcome shows that rather than single dominant work ethicality, a combination of work ethicalities was preferred by most of the entrepreneurs. Within this mix of ethicalities, deontological ethicality and egoistic work ethicality seem to be equally practised by the entrepreneurs. The utilitarian ethicality seems to be practised at a minimum level. As a result, the implicational value of this study lies on at the organisational level and policy making level to rethink and reestablish a mechanism to improve ethical aspects of the businesses in order to maximise social well-being while doing the right things for the society and strengthening shareholders’ protection